Door structure



D. H. MORGAN DOOR STRUCTURE Filed July 5, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Get. 8,1935. D. H. MORGAN 2,017,012

DOOR. STRUCTURE Filed July 5, 1952 .4 Sheets-Sheet 2 avail-wiggle,

Qct. 8, 1935.

D. H. MORGAN 'DOOR STRUCTURE Filed July '5, 1932 [4 Sheets-Sheet 3 D. H.MORGAN DOOR STRUCTURE Filed Jul 5, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 vidE.M01gaPatented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES DOOR STRUCTURE David H. Morgan,Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to Truscon Steel Company, Youngstown, Ohio, acorporation of Michigan Application July 5, 1932, Serial No. 620,912

- 9Claims. (or. 20-20) One of the objects of the present invention is toprovide a simple practicable door structure particularly intended fordoorways of large size in which the weight of the door is in greatmeasure supported directly by the guiding means when the door is opened,and in which novel mecha-' nism is provided for counterweighting thedoor and eliminating in part the action 01' the counterweighting meansas the door becomes thus supported.

Another object is to provide a door structure of .a character that willpermit a small or pilot door being formed therein so that entrance to orexit from the building may be had by individuals without the necessityof operating the large door structure.

In the accompanying drawings: 1

Figure 1 is an inside elevation of one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fi ure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view showing the relation of the doorwhen partially opened.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the relation of thecounterweighting means when the door is in substantially the positionshown in Figure 4.

- Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4, but showing the door fullyopened.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view through the counterweighting meansshowing said means in the relation assumed when the door is in the po-=sition shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the door and par ticularly the dooroperating mechanism. I

Figure 9 is a'plan view oi. the door structure with said operatingmechanism removed.

L0 As shown in certain of the figures, particularly 3, 8 and 9, adoorway I0 is defined by spaced walls ll of any suitable structure. Onthe inner sides of the walls ll adjacent to the doorway I are placedvertical supports shown in the form inafter explained. The portions areshown as hung at their rear ends by/a carrier bar I I supported byhanger rods l6 that may be attached in any suitable way to convenientover- 5, lying structural parts of the building.

A doo'r'for the doorway I0 is shown as consisting of a lower section IIand an upper section 18. These sections consist of suitable frame barst9, the top frame bar of the lower section and the bottom frame bar ofthe upper section being I hinged together, as shown at 20. The walls ofthe door sections are formed bysuitable plates or panels 2| welded orotherwise secured to the frame bars. The upper section may have win dowsas illustrated at 22. v '10 The door as a whole being primarily intendedfor relatively large doorways or openings is much higher than theordinary human being, and as an entity may be said to befiexible'because of the hingedly connected sections. In the strucl5 tureshown the lower section .ll is in itself higher with the usual latch andlock indicated at 26.

Thus ingress to and exit fromthe building may be made through thedoorway 23 without operat- 25 ing the main door structure.

The door is vertically and then .rearwardly movable to an open positionand forwardly'and then downwardly movable to aclosedposition. In orderthat it be guided properly rollers 21 so operating in the guidewaysl3-ll are carried on spindles 28 fixed to brackets 29 secured to theupper portion of the upper section l8, to the lower portion of the lowersection l1, and to one of the sections, preferably the lower section ad-35 jacent to the hinged joint between them. As will be clear by acomparison -of Figures 2, 4 and 6, if the door is elevated the uppersection initially moves vertically, but almost immediately the upper endturns rearwardly and its rear end be- 40 gins to be supported 'by theportions H of the guideways by reason of the uppermost rollers 21resting thereon. In like manner the lower door section II movesvertically until'it too turns rearwardly and when the door is fullyopened, as inll dicated in Figure 6, only the front. portion thereofwill be unsupported by the rearwardly turned portions ll of theguideways.

The operating mechanism for the door is preterably constructed asfollows. Two cables 30 and 3|, which may be in the form of chains, haveends secured as indicated at 32 to the lower corner portions of thelower section H. The cable 3| passes around a driving sheave 33 10-cated above its poi of connection 32 to the 58 door. The other cable 3|,passing around a guide sheave 34 above its point of connection 32,extends over to and about another drive sheave 35. The two sheaves 33and 35 are fixed to a common shaft 36 carrying a spur gear 31. Meshingwith this-spur gear is a drive pinion 38 on a shaft 39 that carries anoperating pulley 40. An endless operating chain 4| extends around thepulley 40 and freely drops to thelower portion of the structure at oneside of the doorway where it may be readily grasped and operated. Otheroperating means may of course be employed.

The two cables 30 and. 3| after passing over 1'' the operating sheaves33 and 35 have their ends djustably but fixedly secured to a suitablesupport as shown at 42. There is enough of the two cables between thesupport 42 and said operating pulleys to form depending bights 43 insaid cables, and these bights hang in the upper portion of a guidehousing 44 located alongside .the doorway and preferably at the outerside of one of the vertical guideways I3.

In said housing 44 is located a counterweight mechanism consisting inthe present embodiment of two distinctive counterweights 45' and 46.Each may consist of a series of weight sections which can be added to ordepleted in number according to the weight and arrangement of the door.The upper section 45 has its units secured together by rods 41 and saidrods are connected to a top plate 48 carrying a bracket 49 in which areidler pulleys 50. These pulleys are engaged in the bights 43 of thecables and allow free movement of the cables. The lower counterweight 46is supported by vertical tie rods that pass therethrough and through theuppercounterweight 45, being slidable in the upper weight as will beclear by a comparison of Figures 5 and 7..-

The operation of this counterweight mechanism may thus be described.When the door is in its closed position or as shown in Figure 1 and 2both weights are supported by the cables 30 and 3| as indicated -inFigure 1, the lower weight being some distance above the floor or bottomof the housing 44. If now the operating means is actuated, by moving thechain 4| in the appropriate'direction, the rotation of the operatingsheaves 33 and 35 causes a pull to be exerted on the chains 30 and 3| toelevate the door. The bights 43 of the cables thereby increase in thustaken from the cables, so that a substantial balancing action occurs inthat the upper weight 45 is then alone in operation and is partlycounterbalancing the lower door section As the opening of the door iscontinued the lower weight section also I comes substantially on to thesupporting portions l4 of the guideways, but

.even when the door is fully open as will be clear by reference toFigure 6, the lowermost rollers 21 are still on the turn of theguideways and there is a material portion of the weight still carried bythe cables. The fully open position of the parts is determined by stops52 at the rear ends 01 the guideways l4 and which are abutted by theuppermost or now rearmost rollers 21 (see Figure 6). While the uppercounterweightis permitted to move downwardly by reason of its slidingengagements with the tie rods 5|, as shown in Figure 7, and said upperweight 5 45- may be allowed to rest directly upon the lower weight,preferably the upper weight is always in action, or in other wordsspaced from the lower weight so that it acting to hold the door in openposition and against its tendency ove forwardly by reason of gravityacting on the front or normally lower end of the lower section II asillustrated in Figure 6. To close the door therefore it is onlynecessary for the operator to move the actuating chain 4| in a reversedirection, whereupon the holding action of the upper weight 45 isovercome, gravity is permitted to act and move the front end of thelowermost section 21 from its position shown in Figure 6 and the doormoves downwardly, its

active weight on the chains increasing until the upper counterweight 46is elevated sufliciently to cause the tie rods 5| to again raise thelower counterweights 46.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation andmany advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minordetails of construction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim, is:

1. A closure structure comprising a door to be 3 raised and lowered, aguide means for the door including means for supporting at least aportion of the weight of the door when the same is elevated, mechanismfor elevating and lowering the door including upper and lowercounterweights that are lowered and raised as the door is elevated andlowered, means operating with the door and connected to the upper weightfor moving said upper weight, a stop for limiting the downward movementof the lower weight, and means other than the said means which operatesthe said upper weight, and connecting the upper and lower weights forcausing the lower weight to move upwardly after the upper weight hasbeen elevated a predetermined distance, said weight connecting meanspermitting the upper weight to lower toward the lower weight when thelatter is on the 2. A closure structure comprising a door to be raisedand lowered, a guide means for the door 55 including means forsupporting at least a portion of the weight of the door when the same iselevated, mechanism for elevating and lowering the door including upperand lower counterweights that are lowered and raised as the door is Qelevated and lowered, a cable connected to'the door and supporting theupper weight to cause its movement with the door, and means other thansaid cable connecting the upper and lower weights for causing the lowerweight to move upwardly after the upper weight has been elevated apredetermined distance, said weight connecting means permitting theupper weight to lower toward the lower weight when the latter is on thestop.

3. A closure structure comprising a door to be raised and lowered, aguide means for the door ineluding means for supporting at leastaportion of the weight of the door when the same is elevated, mechanismfor elevating and lowering the door are lowered and raised as the dooris elevated and lowered, a cable connected to the door and having abight, a pulley connected to the upper weight and operating in saidbight, and a connection between the two weights having a slidingengagement in the upper weight and permitting the upper weight to movetoward the lower weight, when the latter is seated on the stop.

4. A'counterweighting mechanism for a door that is raised and loweredand, which has at least a portion of its weight supported by its guidemeans, said counterweighting mechanism including a plurality ofcounterweight bodies that are lowered and raised as the door is elevatedand lowered, a supporting connection between one of the counterweightbodies and the door, means for supporting said counterweight body in astate of rest and independently of the connection, when the door ispartially elevated, and means other than said door connection, directlyconnecting the counterweight bodies to support one bodyfrom the otherand permitting theunsupported body to move toward and from the otherbody when supported in said state of rest...

5. A counterweighting mechanism for a door thatis raised and lowered andwhich has at least a portion of its weight supported by its guide means,said counterweighting mechanism includ-- ing a plurality ofcounterweight bodies that are lowered and raised as the door is elevatedand lowered, a supporting connection between one of the counterweightbodies and the door, means for supporting said counterweight body' inastate of rest and independently of the connectionwhen the door ispartially elevated, and means directly connecting the counterweightbodies to support one body iromtheother, said connectingmeans beingslidable in one of the counterweight bodies and permittingtheunsupported body to move toward and from the other body whensupported in said state of rest.

6. A counter-weighting mechanism for a door that is raised and loweredand which has at least a portion 'of its weight supported by its guidemeans, said counterweighting mechanism including an upper counterweightand a lower counterweight, means for connecting the upper counterweightto the door to cause said counterweight to rise and fall as the doormoves,a support on which ;the lower weight is adapted to rest, and tierods carrying the lower weight and slidable in the upper weight topermit said upper'weight to move toward and from the lower weight whenthe latter is 5 in a state of rest on its said support.- I

7. A counterweighting mechanism for a door that is raised and loweredand which has at least a portion of its weight supported by its guidemeans, said counterweighting mechanism includ- 10 mg a sheave, a cablefixed to the door, passing over the sheave and having a fixed end,forming a loop between the sheave and its fixed end, an uppercounterweight hungv directly from and having a a traveling mounting inthe loop, a second counl5 terweight below the first counterweight, asupport on which the lower counterweight is adapted to rest, meanssuspendingthe lower counterweight from the upper counterweight andpermitting the upper to move toward the lower when the latter is 20 onits support.

8. A counterweighting mechanism for a door that is raised and loweredand which has at least a portion of its weight supported byits guidemeans, said counterweighting mechanism includ- 25 ing a sheave, a cablefixed to the door, passing over the sheave and having a fixed end,forming a loop between the sheave and its fixed end, an uppercounterweight, a pulley. on the ,loop and from which the uppercounterweight is directly sup- 30 ported, a lower counterweight, asupport on'which the lower counterweight rests when lowered, and a tierod connecting; the lower and upper counterweights and slidable in oneof the same, said means, said counterweig'hting mechanism includ- 40 inga sheave, a cable fixed to the door, a pulley on f said cable, an uppercounterweight directly suspended from said pulley, and a lowercounterweight suspended i'rom the upper weight by means which permit arelative sliding" of the weights 45 after the lower weight reaches thelimit of its travel.

,DAVID E, MORGAN.

